The runs will start and finish in the Field of Hope (M4 junction 3 pedestrian
area) so please be there in time for your start. The 5km course is a
figure-of-8 course (the 10km is two laps). The 10km runners will be
started in batches aimed at getting everyone to the finish by 7.15 p.m.
e.g. 8 minute milers start at 6.25, elite start 6.34 p.m. All 5km runners will
start together at 6.35 p.m.

The Easter break provided some tourist opportunities and the relentless drive
towards the club's 250 parkruns continued unabated.

Piers Keenleyside (24:03) visited Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, one of the longest
established parkruns having started in 2007.

Next to the finish line were Steve Dodsworth (25:58) and Linda Dodsworth
(27:08) at Preston (in Lancashire, not be confused with Preston Park in
Brighton). They had both run there before they were members but they both
achieved PBs and those times are now the club records.

Over at Victoria Park in Leicester, Sarah Gordon (33:30), our newest member
and a sister to Roderick Hoffman (27:10) was running her 100th run complete with
balloons. The 100 Easter Eggs were left at the finish line. A course
PB for her despite the effect on the balloons of the strong wind. Roderick
has now run 199 times so to round things off to average 100 runs each Sarah's
daughter Nicola Gordon (24:12) who doesn't really like running was dragged along
to the celebrations and promptly showed a clean pair of heels to all the other
women present. Maybe she will take a liking to parkrun if Uncle Roderick
flies her over to San Francisco in a few weeks' time. Reminder that Roderick
will be doing his 200th run at Pymmes next Saturday.

Lastly, and by quite a distance so I'm sure there is another story to tell,
Neil Frediani reached the timekeeper at Eastbourne Shinewater Park in 36:22.
Dogs, rabbits? We all want to know. That little lot takes us to 245
different parkruns.

Elsewhere we had four runners at Bedfont Lakes including the very consistent
Chris Evans (24:38) whose three most recent runs have been in a five second time
band. John Lennon joined Kevin Holland at Poole to be part of a field of
686. Janet Smith (34:54) ran at Upton Court for the only the second time
and set a new PB for the course.

Kerstin Luksch lowered her PB to 19:46 at
Gunnersbury. She has now run 37 PBs following her first run of 27:07 back in
December 2011. She has volunteered to be lead bike in the near future. Alan
Anderson, be careful what you wish for.

Denis Foxley continues to become more and more involved with parkrun and has
now done a stint as shadow race director.

Ron F. Hopcroft

It is with great regret and sorrow that I must inform you that Ron
has passed away.

I was advised of this only yesterday, Saturday {19th March}, and as
yet have no details as to how or when.

I will be contacting his nephew, who was appointed his power of
attorney, following the death of his son last year.

Ron celebrated his 98th birthday just three weeks ago, on February
27th, and I was able to be with him on that day. He was physically fit
but as most of you know he had lost his way slightly and had difficulty
recognising any one.

I will attempt to find out more details and advise you when I can.

Laurie Kelly

Ed: Others will know of Ron's achievements better than I
though I can say that a quick Google reveals that Ron won the London to Brighton
Ultrarun before many of us had been born, back in 1956.

Coaching Corner - Running Better, From Head To Toe (part 3)

Legs/Stride

While sprinters need to lift their knees high to achieve maximum leg power,
distance runners don't need such an exaggerated knee lift--it's simply too hard
to sustain for any length of time. Instead, efficient endurance running requires
just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together,
these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting)
energy. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land
directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should
be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg
(below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.

Ankles/Feet

To run well, you need to push off the ground with maximum force. With each
step, your foot should hit the ground lightly, landing between your heel and
mid-foot, then quickly roll forward. Keep your ankle flexed as your foot rolls
forward to create more force for push-off. As you roll onto your toes, try to
spring off the ground. You should feel your calf muscles propelling you forward
on each step. Your feet should not slap loudly as they hit the ground. Good
running is springy and quiet.

Good Luck & don't forget to smile...

Joe Nolan

Controversial Finish - NYC Half Marathon Finish

The rules for events like the Concorde Five allow runners to be
disqualified for unsporting behaviour including obstructing other
participants. The pictures below show the American Molly Huddle on our
left finishing ahead of Kenya's Joyce Chepkirui at the United Airlines
NYC Half Marathon last week. The film footage appears to show Molly
extending and holding her arm against the chest of the faster finishing
Kenyan and moving to her left to block her. The two athletes were
given the same time 1:07:41 with just 0.08 seconds between them - so
obviously any obstruction of Joyce could of deprived her of the win and
the extra $10,000 prize money. The organisers, the New York Road
Runners, did not disqualify Molly. Sadly one has to wonder what would
have happened had the black Kenyan impeded the white American.

Based on the evidence I've seen, had this been the finish of the
Concorde Five, I would have disqualifying Molly for this - and in the BA
Fun Run or a parkrun I'd have switched their finish positions. To
not do so can only encourage such unsporting behaviour.

Running Shorts

Dave Dixon

Just in case anyone mishears anything to the contrary I can reveal that I
chatted to our BA running colleague Dave Dixon late last week. He is in our
Green Belt Relay team and hopefully will join us for WARR and other events. Dave
still holds the club's record parkrun time of 17:10. His once club slowest
time of 36:45 was been worsened since - though perhaps only by tail running
volunteers or others with good reasons for slow times.